It was a rescue like you’d see in the movies, when a 14-year-old boy used a lasso to help a drowning person.
The world needs more heroes like Jory Thomas, who used his rodeo knowledge and faith in God to rescue a person in desperate need of help. The teen details the moment he realized someone needed assistance and how he took matters into his own hands to ensure the man made it home safely that day.
“We all heard, ‘Help, help.’ There’s two or three people floating down the river, one hanging on to the cooler, and he wasn’t saying anything,” he said, according to KTVQ.
As the outlet noted, a raft and paddleboard had “struck a bridge pillar, throwing four people into the Yellowstone River.” While three of the people had made it to shore, one man could be seen clinging to a cooler and continuing to float down the river.
“This current was pretty fast then, and he was moving pretty quickly. Only thing I could focus on was helping him get out of the water because I didn’t want to see anyone go in front of me,” Thomas recalled.
The young kid emptied his pockets and waded through a waist-deep side channel, and took off at a dead sprint in an effort to catch up to the man. That’s when he had the genius idea to use his lariat, which he had brought on the camping trip to practice with, to assist in the rescue.
“I actually started really getting into roping this year. I went to brandings and started roping cattle then, and I started getting better,” he explained. “Every afternoon when it cools off, I go out and rope the roping dummy.”
“First instinct I thought was try and rope him and drag him out before he gets too far down the river,” he added. “Luckily, I caught him first try.”
He was able to pull the man toward the shore, where they waited for first responders to arrive.
“God was basically putting me in the place of all this. God was just telling me all of this at the time and saying, ‘Go get him, you got it, and I believe in you,’” the teen said.
Thomas’ grandmother, Sandy, heaped praise on him, saying this kind of thing is just who the 14-year-old is.
“His first instinct always is to help other people. He’s always been that way. The whole community is proud of him. We’ve had a lot of feedback, but that’s Jory. He’s always there to help somebody else.”
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Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to write. Marlee also contributes to BizPac Review.
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